New York’s Port Authority to get $10 billion remake

Manhattan’s 65-year-old bus terminal to be replaced, design deadline set for Sept. 2016

Building in Manhattan is always going to be expensive, and so there’s little surprise that replacing the world’s busiest bus station on the nation’s priciest island isn’t cheap. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced last week a design competition to replace its bus terminal, currently located at 42nd Street and 8th Avenue.

The project could cost as much as $10 billion.

The Port Authority two years ago formed a committee to study how best to replace the terminal, and that committee’s recommendation is to construct the new one just west of the current location, between 9th and 11th avenues. The committee also recommended keeping the current terminal operational during construction in an effort to lessen disruption to commuters as much as possible. The current Port Authority bus terminal served 66 million bus passenger trips in 2014, a figure that is above its operating capacity.

Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye described the effort to replace the terminal as “an unbelievably complicated project, with construction being done at the crossroads of the world, at the site of some of the most important and expensive real estate in the world.”

The study committee came up with three configurations for the new terminal, but the groups participating in the design competition will be free to build on those or to dismiss them totally. Designers are also able to go with the location proposed by the committee or to recommend an alternative.

While a financing mechanism hasn’t been determined yet, the current terminal location will likely be sold to developers upon completion of its replacement, and those funds will go toward the project’s considerable costs.

“We’ve taken an important first step today,” said Port Authority Chairman John Degnan of the board’s vote. “We still have a lot of work to do. We’re going to have to find the money for this project, and for other projects that are being presented to the board.”

The Port Authority also is planning to construct a $20 billion commuter-rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River and has requested the federal government fund half of that project.